The trio that sold at Christie’s, and one that didn’t
Last week I dug up the patent for the “Base Ball Boy,” recently offered at Christie’s. I have gathered some other research about pre-MLB patents I’d like to share, in this post and in a subsequent one. Let’s begin with those Muller-Deacon bronzes whose foundry serial numbers, graven on the undersides, I referenced earlier.
The pitcher and batter are celebrated in the hobby, and each was patented jointly by Carl Muller and John Deacon. The clumsily executed headline hints at a larger story.
Until the auction, I was unaware that the bronzes formed a trio: the newsboy was utterly new to me. It had been submitted for patent protection two months later, on July 14, and by Muller alone, without mention of Deacon (see below).
Without Deacon’s collaboration, Muller appears to have issued another trio of “base ball players” sometime before 1875. These he exhibited at the 15th annual exhibition of the Artists’ Fund Society. They are presumably lost.
So, what happened to Deacon? And why might Muller have thought he no longer needed him? These questions set me to scurrying.
John Deacon, born in Scotland in 1842 or 1843, had emigrated to New York in 1855. As a young teacher of painting, he registered for the draft in 1863, though he appears not to have served in the Civil War. He married Harriet Brown in 1864; they had two sons. Then he tried his hand at sculpture — in 1867 he copyrighted a statuette of a pitcher delivering a ball. A carte de visite testifies to his creation of a bronze version (prior to Carl Muller’s co-design or his brother Nicholas’s foundry). A side-by-side of the Muller-Deacon statuette vs. the one created by Deacon alone reveals some differences; I believe the Deacon statuette has not survived.
In the 1874 New York City Directory Deacon is present as a sculptor, for the first and last time; both before and after, he describes himself as an artist or a teacher. In the 1880 census, he is listed as a portrait and landscape artist; sculpture had been left behind.
Deacon delivered his bronze of the pitcher as a prize to the winning club of a Picked Nine Match (or all-star game) between the rival cities of New York and Brooklyn, played at the latter’s Union Grounds on August 8, 1867. New York won 13–7, led by third baseman Lipman Pike. At a second intercity match, played on September 3 and again won by New York, Deacon awarded another bronze of the pitcher to catcher Bill Kelley of the Active Club, this time “for the best average score.”
That Deacon’s statuettes were intended as prizes is further evident from an 1868 scorecard, printed perhaps before his joint patent with Muller. The pitcher and striker were available at $8 each in bronze. Samples of his work in progress — a catcher, shortstop, and “third base group,” which may have included an umpire — were available as clay-colored composite models for $3 each; an extra $5 would secure a bronze for that purchaser.
When the pitcher and batsman came up for sale in Fall 2015 (Robert Edward Auctions), the accompanying copy hinted at the likely outcome: “[The reverse of the scorecard] also notes that both a ‘catcher’ and ‘short stop’ figural were scheduled to be produced in bronze provided he received 100 orders. The fact that neither has ever been seen probably indicates that his self-imposed order quota was never met, leaving only the pitcher and striker available to collectors today.”
The recent Christie’s auction sold the grouping of pitcher, batsman, and newsboy as a trio. Indeed, the paper held by the newsboy promotes the statuette of the pitcher!
How to explain Muller’s confidence to produce his own newsboy, without resort to a design by Deacon? Carl (or Karl) L.H. Muller was himself a sculptural artist of the first rank, later famous for his designs for the Union Porcelain Works, especially those exhibited at the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia in 1876. The Metropolitan Museum of Art holds 20 of his works, and the Brooklyn Museum more than 30. Among these are his two 1864 watercolors of a “Newspaper Boy,” one of which is the inspiration for his statuette.
From the newsboy patent application:
This invention relates to a design for a figure representing a newsboy running along, barefooted, full of excitement, crying out his papers. Under his right arm he carries a bundle of them, and in his left holds out one of them, offering it to some passer-by. His hair is hanging on his forehead, from under his cap; his shirt bosom is thrown open, and one leg of his patched pantaloons is rolled up, as seen in the drawing.
Next week we’ll look at the 1860s game and equipment patents of Tice, Buckley, Hill, Canary, and Sebring.
Base Ball Statuettes was originally published in Our Game on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.